Guiding the Homesteaders
by Subtle Insanity
Summary: Players were not the only people sent to Theldesia. Chapter 1: Soujirou Seta encounters a ghost and a woman with a split personality.


Guiding the Homesteaders

Ataruva U.S.: the company behind the long-lived MMORPG known as Elder Tales. It was a newbie to the MMO developer scene about twenty years ago, but today it is one of the scene's mainstays. The secret to its slow yet steady growth piques the curiosity of many, and the company's masterful deflection of any attempt to uncover it only spawns more inquiries.

But its secrecy will become its undoing; it caught _our_ interest.

Chapter 1: The Request from Beyond the Ether

Soujirou never thought death would feel soothing.

Back when Theldesia was just a world behind a monitor, the death of his character was a simple event: his character spasmed, hit the dirt, and then just lay still, after which he'd either wait for someone to revive him or return to his last respawn point.

The scene before him was preferable to a black loading screen.

Above the beach bordering a shining ocean, amongst the trillion twinkles of the starscape, was Earth. He assumed it was Earth and not Theldesia because his current attire was not the ronin appearance of his avatar, but the pajamas his physical body had been wearing when he woke up in excitement, remembered the release of the newest expansion, and booted up his comp with childish glee.

The past... With his prone body warmed by the dark blue sand beneath him, he could almost feel the urge to reminisce-

"Adventurer Soujirou Seta: founder of the West Wind Brigade, and now the first player in the Yamato server to experience death. I guess that's one way of being a 'Novasphere Pioneer'."

The voice was behind him. Male, deep, and... echoing? No person's natural voice could have that effect. It also sounded slightly familiar...

Soujirou tilted his head upward. The man's figure was a silvery wisp, as if a strong wind could scatter his image like smoke. His business suit accentuated his lanky build, but Soujirou's eyes could barely discern the clothes from the body.

"Welcome to limbo, boyo. Did you have a nice death?"

A nice death... Soujirou knew quite well what sent him here: the swift judgment of an unreasonable Guard, one that was ignorant to the pleas of the Lander he was sworn to protect, all because a fellow guildie tried to defend her from the true criminals. The only reason he'd consider his death "nice" was that he bought Isami enough time to escape that same judgment with the help of Nazuna-

Nazuna. There was one thing he remembered talking with her.

"_If I get killed by the Guard here... do you think I'll come back to life fine?"_

"_That... I'm 100% certain you will."_

Feeling strength returning in his body, he jumped to his feet and dusted off the sand before facing the ghostlike person. "If I died as my character, can I resurrect?"

"You can."

"How?"

"Infuse a memory you don't mind losing into a piece of yourself, and toss that piece into the ether behind you."

"'A memory I don't mind losing'? So there _is_ a cost to coming back?"

"Nothing has ever been 'free', boyo. The toll just has to be something you wouldn't mind erasing from your noggin. Most people choose something from their childhood, but you seem like the kind of guy who values all things equally, so I'll give you a freebie memory to junk- that is, if you can do something for _me_."

The man was right; no matter how embarrassing or horrible his past would've been, they were still part of his current self, and he would cherish those bad times just as much as the good ones. Not that he'd give the man the satisfaction of being correct.

"Name it."

"In Akiba, there should be someone named Lydia. It's been a few days since you players arrived in Theldesia, so I doubt she'd still be waiting for me at the Transport Gate. I want you to find her and relay my predicament to her. Can you memor... ize..." The man trailed off.

"Huh? What happened?"

"I remembered something, sorry. Once you respawn, you won't remember this place or our meeting anyway." The man gave a low hum as he thought deeply. "Ah, I know! I'll make it a 'quest'. You can read the details there. As for the freebie memory, it apparently has to be from before you became your avatar, and it has to be something you'd remember fondly."

"What about that 'infusing the memory into a piece of myself' part?"

"The piece of yourself can be any part of your body, really. I had a few crazies who actually offered up a limb or some blood, but a few strands of hair is enough. As for infusing the memory, just focus on it as you're tossing your piece into the blue. Now then, our time together is drawing to a close, so ready yourself, please."

Soujirou plucked out a few strands of hair, noting that there was no pain. "Ready." Only now when he was not caught in the man's flow did he remember something. "I'm sorry, I never got your name."

The man smiled before clearing his throat. "'Congratulations, Debauchery Tea Party, for your success in the Nine Great Prisons of the Helots raid. I look forward to your future accomplishments!'"

The Tea Party was famed for tackling raids like Nine Great Prisons of the Helots before anyone else, emphasized by their existence as a guild only in spirit.

They cleared content so quickly that they would even be personally praised by those who coded the events.

-Akiba Cathedral-

Soujirou needed a bit of time to process the events that followed his revival at the Cathedral.

His guild welcomed him with open arms, Nazuna hugged him, Isami was in tears, Nazuna lectured him, and then Nazuna tried to... kiss him.

Thankfully, Olive stopped her, but he had the nagging feeling that Nazuna was going to try it again at a later point.

Isami wiped away the tear trails on her face. "So, Soujirou, what was it like...? Do you remember anything before you came back?"

No matter how deeply he thought, he couldn't recall anything, shaking his head. It was as if his consciousness between his last breath and his second wind transitioned seamlessly.

Sara, the guild's Lander maid, approached him. "Lord Soujirou, are you well?"

"I've never felt better, Sara. Thanks for your concern. But just to be sure..." He mentally invoked the interface. After seeing that his status was in perfect health, he noticed the Quest button was flashing, which meant that he had entered a new quest. He didn't remember triggering anything when the Guard appeared... Curious, he tapped the button with his finger.

His eyes caught an unusual entry in the list, so he tapped the entry.

The Request from Beyond the Ether

A person named Josse is trapped in a place where dead Adventurers wait until they are revived. Inform Lydia of his situation. Her last known location was near the Transport Gate in Akiba.

Objective: Meet with Lydia while not in a party.

Quest marker available.

A few things made Soujirou question the validity of this quest.

Josse and Lydia... unlike most Adventurer handles in the Yamato server, these two names were typed out with the English alphabet.

A place where dead Adventurers wait... wouldn't he remember something that significant?

An available quest marker... Elder Tales was an open-world game, so quest markers were coded into the interface when players had to locate quest-related Landers in densely-populated areas like Akiba. Since the minimap that could pinpoint said people was disabled in Soujirou's screen, he reasoned that the only guide would be an arrow with a distance meter.

"Lord Soujirou?" Sara's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry, Sara." He gave a beaming smile. "I was just mulling something. Let's head back to our guild hall."

-Dilapidated Building-

"To think I could be subjected to 'hunger' again... This magic is indeed vile." Leaning on a windowsill, a woman brushed aside strands of chestnut brown, bit off a piece of a peeled banana, and chewed slowly, her brown eyes locked on the defunct Transport Gate across the street. Around the small, crackling flame near her were sandwiches, pizza, and wings, but all those items were more or less crackers with deceptive shapes and textures. The boxes of juice, tea, and wine bottles were also no different from colored water. The few luxuries she had were, ironically enough, the raw fruits and veggies she managed to snag from the vendors.

But with the increasingly toxic atmosphere in Akiba and her dwindling satchel of gold, the chance of getting more of those ingredient-label items tomorrow, much less from here on out, was essentially nil.

The desire for food can be separated into two categories: sustenance and entertainment.

Sustenance was self-explanatory: you eat, you live. You don't, you die slowly.

Entertainment was not just aesthetics or the show created through preparing it. Taste also fell under this subject. Eat delicious food, experience pleasant memories; eat disagreeable food, experience unpleasant memories.

There was the possibility of scavenging stuff from beyond the gates, but one glance at the pair of bodies at the far end of the room confirmed the foolishness of that option.

Her interface identified those bodies draped in forest-green and navy-blue cloaks as the respective unconscious forms of one Josse and one Lydia, both spelled out in English letters. Also known as the woman's rightful form.

[How was today's food?] A feminine voice surfaced in the woman's thoughts.

"It was... okay." If she felt someone else's presence on the floor, she wouldn't be speaking out loud and making herself look loco.

[You know I sensed your displeasure earlier. What's the point of not being honest with... yourself? There's no point in being formal with... me. Wow, this _is_ confusing.]

"I apologize. We're still two different people, despite the situation. Let's just curse the Catastrophe as always."

The voice hummed.

The woman's body was not her own. It belonged to the voice in her head, just as how the body at the far end should belong to her. The voice's name was also Lydia, but written out in katakana as リディア. In a sense, there were two Lydias: the weak-level Lander that did not exist before the newest expansion, and the player that explored Theldesia through her avatar. How Lydia the player found herself in the body of Lydia the Lander was a question neither could answer.

As the duality known as Lydia took another bite of her banana, they heard footsteps and clinking metal approaching from the west.

[Someone's coming?]

"Shit. Either we were followed, or someone got curious. We're hiding."

[What about your body?]

"Your existence is more important than mine."

She went out the exit at the east end and hugged the wall, making sure her own footsteps were silent.

A few seconds later, she sensed someone occupying the room.

If the intruder was a player, she would have no chance in a melee fight; her Lander body was an embarrassing Level 1. The intruder now had free rein with the idle prey in front of him. If he inflicted damage on either of the bodies, the Guard will punish him, but it's possible that he could do... other things with them. Things that would make the duality known as Lydia vomit.

"Dammit, do I fight or flee...?"

Lydia the Lander was conflicted in suggesting either choice.

If she suggested fighting, they might die. And since Landers don't resurrect in the Cathedral, Lydia the player might also die permanently.

If she suggested running, forget the possibility of items being filched; the two bodies will be as good as gone, likely mutilated and violated beyond reason.

The Lander considered herself logical. There was only one path.

[Let's-!]

"Forgive my intrusion. If I spooked you, I apologize wholeheartedly."

The intruder spoke? And he knows I'm here?

"My name is Soujirou Seta. Someone named Josse gave me a quest to meet with you, Lydia, so I came here alone, as outlined in the quest parameters. Please come out from behind the wall."

["Josse"? Mine or yours?]

"No idea. Could be either. Let me make sure." She turned to the intruder, her body still hugging the wall. "What's the password?"

Was there a password in the quest details? Soujirou invoked his interface, found the new quest info, and then cleared his throat.

"'Once bound by sense, we were now bound to each other.' I hope I said that properly..."

"Yeah, my Josse is behind this, alright." She stepped out from the wall. "You almost scared me to death, boy."

He approached her, went on his knees, and bowed deeply. "I humbly apologize, from the bottom of my heart."

She crossed her arms and glared at Soujirou for a few moments before sighing in exasperation. "Apology accepted."

When he raised his head, he noticed that the person in front of him was identified as Lydia in katakana, but the quest arrow was supposed to point to Lydia in English. "Uh... Is the quest arrow glitched? It should be pointing to the person over there, right?" He tilted his head to the pair of bodies.

"No, I think it's working properly. I'm borrowing this body from its owner. You can say hello, Lander."

["Good evening. I am Lydia the Lander."] The duality bowed.

Soujirou mulled deeply. "Sorry, a lot's happened today, so it's hard to keep track of everything."

"Understandable. Now, then, what brings you here?"

"According to the details of my quest, 'Josse' over there is 'trapped in a place where dead Adventurers wait until they are revived'. Do you know anything about that?"

"'A place where dead Adventurers wait until they are revived'... Could it be...?"

[I think it's related to what happened with my Josse.] The Josse that Lydia the Lander referred to had his name spelled in katakana as ジョス.

"Lydia, do you know something?"

She sized up Soujirou. "Hm... I have an idea, but I can't tell you, sorry."

He frowned. "Oh... okay."

"I mean it, I can't tell you. Not yet. But since you did this for Josse, you seem reliable enough. Have a bite, because this will take a while." She moved her hand to the assorted collection of food near the flame.

"I accept your offer." After the two of them sat near the light, he took a carrot from the stash and began nibbling on it.

"To begin, the Josse who gave you that quest, and I... we are developers of the game."

"Whaaaaat!?" A number of surprised voices came from the west staircase, followed by a number of painful thumps.

Soujirou and Lydia looked down the staircase, and found the other members of the West Wind Brigade in compromising positions.

"I thought you came alone?"

"Uh... oops?"

-Author's Note-

The detail introduced to the canon in this story: what if a developer of Elder Tales were brought into Theldesia? Originally, only one developer was supposed to be introduced, but I like trifectas in stories, so I added two more! The third will appear next chapter.

If any part of this breaks canon details, rest assured, I will fix the discrepancies.

The light novels and anime have the first player death be a result of provoking a Guard, with the rumor of suicide. The West Wind Brigade spinoff has those two details be separate events: Soujirou is the first player to die, at the hands of a Guard, and someone else attempted suicide but was stopped.

All the details about the moon don't appear to be translated, only paraphrased, so once the light novel translation reaches that point, I'll edit things accordingly.

The Tea Party's success in the raid known as The Nine Great Prisons of the Helots is mentioned in Volume 5 Chapter 2 Part 4.

The names "Akiba Cathedral" and "Catastrophe" are in the Volume 2 illustrations. As for the Dilapidated Building, you can see it across the street from the Transport Gate in the same pic.

The duality of the Lydias is another detail of my own creation.


End file.
